Winners and losers in Bush’s 2008 education budget

Here’s how specific education initiatives would fare under President Bush’s 2008 budget proposal.

Winners

New sources of funding would include:

 $1.2 billion in additional funds for Title I, for a total of $13.9 billion. Bush wants to drive more federal Title I funding to high schools, so they have the resources to implement reforms.

 $500 million in first-time funding for Title I School Improvement Grants, a new program to support “strong and effective state leadership in helping to turn around low-performing schools and school districts.”

 $411.6 million for State Assessment Grants to support strong state assessment systems and to develop and implement two years of high school assessments that would be required under Bush’s plan to reauthorize Title I.

 $300 million to expand private-school choice and tutoring options. This would include $250 million for “Promise Scholarships,” or vouchers, for low-income students in poor-performing schools to transfer to private schools or receive intensive tutoring; and $50 million in “Opportunity Scholarships” for competitive grants to cities, nonprofit organizations, and others to carry out innovative voucher programs.

 $365 million in additional funding for the president’s American Competitiveness Initiative, which aims to strengthen math and science education. This would include $125 million for the Math Now for Elementary School Students program, modeled after Reading First; $125 million for a new Math Now for Middle School Students program, based on the principles of the Striving Readers program, to support research-based math interventions in middle schools; $90 million in additional Advanced Placement funds to encourage more students, especially in high-poverty schools, to take AP classes in math, science, and foreign languages; and $25 million for an Adjunct Teacher Corps to create opportunities for qualified professionals outside K-12 education to teach high school math and science.

 $68.4 million in additional funds for Striving Readers to implement research-based interventions to improve the skills of teens who are reading below grade level.

Losers

Among the 44 education programs slated for elimination under Bush’s 2008 budget plan are these: